Author name: Enthusiast

Black and grays are the stars of today’s architecture and furniture design. Most of the black in today’s wood furniture and cabinetry is painted or produced by means of stains and dyes, but another way to turn a piece black is by charring. Charring involves no solvents and requires no drying time. When topped with a low-luster finish such as Osmo Polyx oil, it produces a velvety appearance that highlights […]

The post Blackened Wood: Designing with Fire appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

More than a year ago, before I joined the staff, Megan Fitzpatrick and I talked about an article that I wanted to write about lumberyards and the perennial discussion about domestic versus exotic lumber. At the time, I was also working on an interactive map of New York City’s neighborhoods, and I floated the idea of creating a map of local lumberyards that would accompany the article. The article is […]

The post A Lumberyard Map: Find a Lumber Yard Near You! appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I came across Andrew’s work on Instagram and Reddit and thought it was a creative build. Andrew uses skateboards that were broken or headed to the garbage to create colorful projects. In the video above he turned a baseball bat – on his Instagram feed you’ll see canoe paddles, drumsticks and coffee stampers. He’s creative and learning fast. I enjoyed his story, I captured part of it for blog post found […]

The post How to Make a Baseball Bat Out of Recycled Skateboards: Interview with Andrew Szeto appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When you hang around woodworkers there is always talk of hand tools versus power tools. You’ll meet people who love the idea of doing everything they can by hand and really connecting with their material. And you’ll meet folks who like to take advantage of the speed and convenience that modern machines afford. And then there are those who believe in employing the best of both worlds: using power tools […]

The post Book Giveaway: Hybrid Woodworking appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The very idea of digital woodworking is something new and strange to a lot of woodworkers, so it’s only natural there are a lot of questions. For many, the big question is “where do I start?” The answer is easy. Learn to draw using Computer Aided Drawing (CAD) drawing tools. You don’t have to own an expensive CNC router to get the biggest benefit of going digital. You can remain a […]

The post CAD is the Secret Sauce appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A woodworker asked me recently, “What the heck is a witness line?” Well, this opens up an interesting discussion. One of my pet peeves since I began teaching finishing, has been people creating new terminology when quite adequate terminology already exists. There’s no better example than “witness lines,” which is a new term for “ghosting” or “layering” that appears when you sand or rub through one layer of finish into […]

The post Witness Lines: A New Name for an Old Problem appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.